She's read all Goose bumps, all Roald Dahl, most of the series books like the Karen "Babysitter's Little Sister" canon, Sweet Valley Twins and a lot of Sweet Valley High, a lot of Point Horror, and the Buffy books as well as all the works of individual authors like J K "Harry Potter" Rowling, all Jacqueline Wilson, most of Marita Conlon McKenna and other new Irish children's authors. And she's bored.

In bookshop or library, she'll drift towards the familiar series books which she'll probably have polished off an hour or two after getting home.

So aren't her parents happy to have a voracious reader on their hands? Of course not. Now they worry about why their 10-year-old won't move on to books that might be more "challenging", and would at least provide better (that is, longer) reading value.

Modern children are reading as never before, despite all the dire warnings about the influence of TV. Modern parents are reading-conscious as never before, buying books for their babies from infancy onwards. Children's books are a huge growth industry, and there is a dizzying new selection of good and not-so-good books to choose from that weren't available even when the young parents among us were children.

So how can some children be reluctant readers - and others refuse to stray far from the most popular series? Can parents influence their children's reading habits, if they want them to read "more" or "better" books? And when children reach 10, 11 and 12 and are growing out of children's books, can you influence them to keep the reading habit?

Rosemary Hetherington, new president of Children's Books Ireland and a librarian with the children's and schools section of Dublin Public Libraries, says: "Obviously, one of the most important things is peer group influence, and if a school is book-minded, children will share books, discuss them in class - and that's the best way."

The worst thing you can do, say both Hetherington and Sarah Webb, marketing manager for children's books with Eason's and editor of Children's Books Ireland magazine, is to push childhood books you may have loved - like Little Women, The Secret Garden or Anne of Green Gables - on offspring. Webb confirms, sadly, that most children now find these dated and don't want to read them. (The older books that enjoy continued popularity include C S Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, E B White's Charlotte's Web, Tom's Midnight Garden by Phillipa Pearce, Noel Streatfield's Ballet Shoes, all Roald Dahl and, from six up, Enid Blyton.)

Webb isn't entirely against parents getting their children to buy one "good" book for one series book, but says banning series books, as some parents do, is bad news. Both Webb and Hetherington share the philosophy that reading is reading, and should be fun: whatever approach parents adopt should be subtle.

You can suss out books that might both appeal and stretch them at the same time, then bring them along on holidays or give as Christmas presents. But, says Webb, you shouldn't then quiz your child about the books, or nag, or preach.

One 11-year-old says bluntly: "What attracts me to a book is when a friend at school says it's really good and not when my mother suggests it, because she suggests really dumb books except for Harry Potter and all these stupid old books that were written in what - 1970?"

This child likes "horror, though not as much as I did, imaginative books like Harry Potter and real-life problem books, like Jacqueline Wilson". And she has a definite bias against books she considers old-fashioned (while still enjoying Irish legends). Her problem is, she's running out of the kind of books she likes to read.

One mother whose teenage daughter found herself in this position around the time she entered secondary school says that her daughter moved on to thrillers - Jeffrey Archer, John Grisham - in desperation when she ran out of children's books to read.

Agatha Christie is also still popular with young teenagers, as are Maeve Binchy, Roddy Doyle and newer authors like Cathy Kelly.

But there is also a lot of good new teenage fiction out there, a genre that barely existed 20 and 30 years ago. (Authors like Judy Blume, who 30-year-old Sarah Webb read when she was 13, are now being read by 10- and 11-year-olds. "Children are simply growing up faster," she says. )

Interestingly, once-controversial authors like Blume, criticised in Britain and Ireland in the past for her upfront American handling of themes like teen romance, have now been elevated to "approved" status, for the quality of her writing. And parents and teachers now mostly approve of Enid Blyton books, partly because they know they're free of sex and violence.

Books that a bored 10- or 11-year-old might consider reading include David Almond's "brilliant" Skellig, about an angel a boy finds in a garage, or Philip Pullman's Northern Lights, a fantasy/adventure. Webb adds: "There's always Anne Fine, who's consistently good." Irish writers for teenagers like Martina Murphy and Mark O'Sullivan are also recommended by Hetherington and Webb. O'Sullivan's Angels Without Wings and White Lies are particularly recommended, as are Siobhan Parkinson's books.

Boys in particular need encouragement, for many simply stop reading around 11 or 12: at adult level, women buy three-quarters more books than men do, so the habit stays lost for good. Both Hetherington and Webb recommend "graphic" novels - with illustrations - like Tintin or Asterix. "Boys go for these, because they look like comics," says Webb. "Adults shouldn't sneer at picture books for older children - they're an art form."

Boys also like to read fact books about things that interest them, whether it's Manchester United, pop groups, Formula One racing or a hobby.

Hetherington says that the wide choice of books can be part of the problem for both children and parents. But there are many guides to children's literature available, and one place to find them is in your local library. Children's Books Ireland publishes a "Best Books" guide each October, and if you can't get this in your library or local bookshop, ring CBI (tel: (01) 872 5854) to get one. There's also Who Next? A Guide to Children's Authors.

Be subtle, be aware of what your child is reading. (Some novels are quite hard-edged, and might upset one child, but not another.) Discuss the books with them and, above all, don't get preachy.

After all, how kindly would you feel if someone criticised you for reading Archer but not Amis, Binchy but not Banville?